Ghana Launches Committee to Regulate Cryptocurrency Market

Ghana has taken another step towards regulating its cryptocurrency market by establishing the Virtual Assets Coordinating Committee (VACC). The committee, inaugurated on August 25, brings together five key agencies: the Bank of Ghana, Ghana's Securities and Exchange Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Cyber Security Authority, and the Financial Intelligence Centre. The Bank of Ghana will chair the committee for the first two years.

The VACC is tasked with aligning the work of these agencies to prevent their rules from operating in silos or contradicting each other. According to Governor Johnson Asiama, the Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission are still drafting operational guidelines. The government expects the law to take full effect in 2027.

Asiama noted that adoption of digital assets in Ghana has reached a point where the asset class can no longer be ignored. He cited the overlap between digital assets and the traditional financial system as one of the reasons for regulating crypto, referring to a 2024 AML/CFT risk assessment.